Online Property Record

Executive Summary:

Planning the closure, divestiture, or acquisition of commercial and industrial assets is a complex undertaking. Due diligence is required to ensure asset acquisition is informed by accurate property, operational, and environmental information. Site-specific online information is available to support business decisions and Net Present Value (NPV) evaluations. This article describes how EHS professionals and counsel might access this online information to inform a deal team of reliable facts, establish provenance, and identify considerations for post-closing site operations. The Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) standards for information gathering under ASTM E152721 are a solid foundation for due diligence. However, some business decisions warrant expanded lines of inquiry.

Public Narrative

As a first step, it helps to understand how a property has been discussed publicly. A broad internet search of local news coverage can reveal significant events or sentiments. Fires and odor episodes, zoning disputes, lawsuits, redevelopment plans, business expansions, or persistent complaints can surface in public narratives. The value of this context is two-fold: it can direct lines of inquiry and potentially influence contract language such as representations, warranties, or targeted indemnities.

A special caution belongs here: AI summaries can be misleading. Generative tools are fast and easy, but they can conflate properties with similar names, misattribute incidents, or omit dates that change context. If AI is used to accelerate discovery, check URLs sources and publication dates, quote sparingly, and confirm information. AI will provide links to source materials. Always locate and reference these primary documents or agency websites, not the AI summary. For an acquisition, provenance is part of the proof.

Public Information

Insight from the public narrative can be used to locate relevant records that establish property identity and constraints. Town and county assessor websites, along with municipal or county GIS portals, typically provide ownership history, parcel IDs and legal descriptions, improvement details, acreage, assessed values, and tax statuses. Many jurisdictions also link to zoning maps, overlay districts, floodplains, wetlands, and environmental justice screening layers. This information will help confirm property boundaries and may also reveal outparcels, slivers, shared access, or easements that can complicate closing.

Further building on insights from the public narrative, access and review building and fire department records for information about site operations and development. In some jurisdictions, building permit and inspection portals are available online. However, many towns still require contacting the town clerk, building department, or fire marshal to access site records. Expect variability and plan for a short phone call followed by a clear, concise email request. Identify the property by address and parcel ID, include known historical owner or tenant names and aliases, and specify a date range that reasonably captures the industrial era of interest. Ask for copies of permits, certificates of occupancy or use, inspection reports, plan approvals, notices of violation, and/or files that reference chemical handling. Provide examples of equipment that may reference chemical use such as spray booths, dust collectors, plating lines, boilers, tanks, or hazmat storage rooms. Note that many building departments have retention limits or have lost records due to floods or fire. Document significant data gaps where information is lacking and environmental conditions cannot be determined with reasonable confidence.

Environmental Databases

Per ASTM E1527-21, a review of environmental databases is also required to assess the environmental condition of a property. Although these records are available from specialized search companies, the data comes from public information sources such as USEPA and state databases.

The USEPA’s ECHO (Enforcement and Compliance History Online) portal provides a consolidated facility profile of environmental programs including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act (including NPDES and Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs)), RCRA hazardous waste, Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), and the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). It aggregates permits, inspections, violations, enforcement actions, and agency inspection and compliance status information.

The USEPA’s Envirofacts database provides access to data from individual reporting systems such as ICISAIR, RCRAInfo, TRI, SEMS (Superfund Enterprise Management System) cleanups, Brownfields, GHGRP, and environmental justice siting information. Screening tools such as NEPAssist and EJScreen provide additional information about land use layers, sensitive receptors, and environmental justice indices.

State environmental portals vary widely in scope and usability. Depending on the jurisdiction, portals may provide access to air, stormwater or NPDES permits, DMRs, spill and incident registries, UST/LUST releases, brownfield or voluntary cleanup files, eManifest views, or enforcement dockets. Site-specific permit information is vital to due diligence and post-closure considerations, but online status indicators can lag. Violations listed as “open” online may in fact be resolved but not yet posted; update lags depend on the agency and the program. Trinity’s environmental professionals routinely navigate these sources and can qualify the relevance of online information.

Conclusion

Online sources can materially strengthen diligence for property transactions, but facts must be validated for context, applicability, and significance under ASTM E152721. Trinity’s environmental professionals combine local agency familiarity with multimedia regulatory experience to reconcile public records with operational realities and transaction documents. We help clients confirm property boundaries, assess risk indicators, align findings with deal terms, and document significant data gaps when information is unavailable.

For guidance on the complexities of closure, divestiture, and acquisition, join Trinity’s free webinar series on Closure, Divestiture & Acquisition, or contact us to discuss due diligence.

Closure, Divestiture & Acquisition Series

Part 1: Closure and Future Use of Commercial/Industrial Assets

Presented July 2, 2025. Recording available.

This webinar is an introduction to the series and presents options associated with closure, divestiture and acquisition. What are the timelines and due diligence considerations you need to know? We will include information on assessments and inspections, equipment management, recordkeeping, budget impacts, and other multimedia requirements associated with the following course topics.

Course Topics

• Repurposing Assets
• Temporary Closure
• Transfer
• Permanent Closure

Closure, Divestiture & Acquisition Series

Part #2: Permit Management, Regulatory and Closure/Post Closure Requirements for Commercial/Industrial Assets

Presented: September 4, 2025. Recording available.

This webinar presents details for environmental permit management associated with closure, divestiture and acquisition. The information will be organized by media and describe how to document compliance for the changes you will need to manage.

Course Topics

• Air
• Waste
• Water
• DOT
• Nuclear Sources
• Records and Reporting

Closure, Divestiture & Acquisition Series

Webinar #3: Closure/Divestitures of Commercial/Industrial Assets

Presented November 6, 2025. Recording available.

This webinar presents information on asset management associated with closure, divestiture and acquisition. What are the safety considerations for non-routine work? What infrastructure needs to be dismantled or isolated and how should that be done? Any closure plans written long ago by others as part of your permit application now need to be implemented.

Course Topics

• Safety
• Nuclear Sources
• Chemical Management
• Tank Systems
• WWTP
• Infrastructure
• Landfills
• Waste

Closure, Divestiture & Acquisition Series

Webinar #4: Continuity- Acquisition and Future Use of Commercial/Industrial Assets

Date: Thursday, January 8, 2026 12:00 – 1:00 PM CST

This webinar rounds out our Closure, Divestiture and Acquisition series by planning for business continuity. We will focus on start up and shake down and what that may look like from both an infrastructure and legal perspective. As a tickler, due diligence with ASTM and remediation considerations will be included in this presentation.

If you would like to discuss your individual circumstance and the options you should consider, feel free to reach out to Andrea Simmons – Managing Consultant for more information and how Trinity can help.